Adelaide public bus operator backs 50 cent fare push
The CEO of Adelaide’s public bus operator Torrens Transit said his company “would be supportive of any policies that promote public transport”.
Amid a push from the Adelaide City Council and the South Australian Greens to make bus fares a flat 50 cents, the CEO of the company which owns the operator of Adelaide’s public bus system has come out in favour of the idea.
Speaking exclusively with InDaily, newly appointed Kelsian CEO Graeme Legh said his company “would be supportive of any policies that promote public transport”.
Kelsian is the owner of Transit Systems – which it acquired for more than $600 million – and in turn owns Torrens Transit; the operator of bus services across Adelaide’s East West, North South and Outer North East bus contract areas.
Torrens Transit operates seven Adelaide bus depots, coordinates more than 800 buses and 24 tram services and has 1599 employees.
Legh said from Kelsian’s point of view, the 50-cent fare “is clearly a good thing”.
“The more people we get onto public transport the better, and I think Australia as a whole needs to do a better job of driving people onto public transport,” he said.
You might like
“Clearly, fares are one way to do that. We see ourselves as a big part of the solution to the state government’s commitment to decarbonise.
“Part of that is investment in battery buses and getting diesel buses off the road, but the bigger part that is going to make a bigger difference is just getting people out of their cars and onto buses or trains.”
He clarified that the price of bus fares doesn’t impact the business’s bottom line as Kelsian is paid under a contract with the state government.
“It’s not a financial driver of our business,” he said.
“We don’t take the fare box risk – all the fares go to the government.
“Certainly, we would be supportive of any policies that promote public transport, whether that be investment in public transport infrastructure, improving the public transport network, improving the number of bus services that are available or making public transport cheaper and easier to access.”
Stay informed, daily
His support came with a caveat: “making sure the infrastructure can handle it”.
“We’re already seeing a number of regions in Australia are well behind in terms of their reinvestment into new bus fleets because infrastructure does take time to put forward, especially when you bring in new infrastructure like battery electric buses which… also require upgrades to depot facilities,” he said.
“Big drastic changes in fares can have big drastic changes in passenger demand.
“If you don’t have the supporting change in the infrastructure, it can lead to negative outcomes for everyone.”
In March, Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis was asked about adopting 50-cent fares and knocked it back, saying he’s interested in “the longevity of the system”.
Instead, Koutsantonis said his priorities were to deprivatise public transport and decarbonise fleets.
Earlier in April, the Legislative Council backed a motion by Robert Simms MLC to call on the Malinauskas government to trial 50-cent fares in the upcoming state budget, which is due to be handed down in June.
Simms is running a petition for people to show their support, which will be included in the Greens’ budget submission to the government.
He encourages people to write to the Transport Minister to show their support as well, and points to Queensland’s recent commitment to 50-cent fares as an example of success.
In six months, Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads observed an 18.3 per cent jump in public transport patronage and commuter savings of about $3640 for travellers taking the train five times a week.
“I think the evidence from Queensland is pretty overwhelming,” Simms said.
“It’s resulted in a significant uptake in terms of public transport, and also resulted in significant savings and so I’d really like to see the government step up and make that a reality.”
This comes after the Adelaide City Council passed a motion to advocate to the state government to explore a similar reduced fare scheme in Adelaide last month.
